This invention relates to containers for storing capsules, and more particularly to such containers providing discharge of capsules individually, i.e., one by one.
A variety of products, including cosmetics, drugs, foods, detergents and the like, are commonly prepared in the form of capsules, which are packaged in bottles or other containers for storage and sale. In general, a capsule container includes a body constituting a receptacle for holding a plurality of capsules, and a lid for closing the receptacle. To obtain one or more capsules from the container, a user may take off the lid and tilt the open receptacle to cause capsules to fall out, or reach into the receptacle to remove capsules with the fingers.
Such operations present problems, however, in that when the open receptacle is tilted, an undesired excess of capsules may come out, while manual extraction of capsules from within the receptacle is not easily accomplished. In either case, there is a danger that capsules not intended to be withdrawn may be contaminated by contact with surfaces outside the container or with the user's fingers inside the container. Additionally, if the capsules are of low strength (as are some cosmetic capsules), attempted extraction with the fingers may subject them to breakage.
Expedients for overcoming these difficulties have heretofore been proposed, for example in Republic of Korea registered utility model No. 20-0334691 and Republic of Korea patent No. 10-1342843. The proposed expedients, however, do not entirely prevent discharge of more than one capsule at a time, may exert pressure sufficient to cause breakage of low-strength cosmetic capsules, and may require inconveniently complex manipulation.
Copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/178,618 filed Dec. 14, 2016 (hereinafter App. '618), having the same inventor as the present application, and incorporated herein in its entirety by this reference, discloses a capsule container for storing plural capsules and discharging the stored capsules individually, comprising an upwardly open container body including a receptacle portion for holding a plurality of capsules; a cap mounted on the container body for manual rotation relative thereto about a vertical axis and having a discharge port; an upright screw shaft disposed within and fixedly secured to the receptacle portion and having a circumferential spiral groove; and a hollow cylinder coupled to the cap for rotation therewith, extending downwardly from the cap through the receptacle portion in surrounding concentric relation to the screw shaft, the cylinder having an inner surface bearing a screw thread facing the spiral groove, a lower part of the cylinder having an entry port for admitting stored capsules from the receptacle portion individually into the cylinder, and the cylinder communicating upwardly with the discharge port, wherein the thread and the groove are coaxial and are mutually dimensioned and configured to receive between them an individual capsule admitted into the cylinder through the entry port and, upon rotation of the cap in a particular direction relative to the container body, to cause admitted capsules to be raised one by one from the entry port to the discharge port.
However, in this container, since the capsules are moved upward one by one along the movement path defined by the screw thread of the rotary cylinder and the spiral groove of the screw shaft, the discharge speed of the capsule-shaped contents is lowered, and there is an inconvenience that the rotation cap must be rotated several times in order to initially discharge the capsules.
In addition, when the receptacle portion contains multiple capsules, the weight of capsules pressing down on those capsules at the level of the entry port of the rotary cylinder may cause more than one capsule to enter the cylinder at the same time, resulting in poor discharge.